As I used to be washing the dishes this morning, the tune “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” (sung by Kate Baldwin) got here up on my playlist. This tune, from the 1947 musical Finian’s Rainbow, at all times transports me again in time. It was one in every of my father’s favourite musicals, and I bear in mind the times, way back, when our household would watch it collectively.
How are issues in Glocca Morra? Is that willow tree nonetheless weeping there? I bear in mind the willow tree exterior our again door gently swaying within the cool breeze and the scent of lilac blossoms wafting by way of the air.
Although Glocca Morra could also be a fantastical place in Ireland, the tune speaks powerfully to the expertise of anybody who has left house.
Baldwin sings:
How are issues in Glocca Morra?
Is that little brook nonetheless leaping there?
Does it nonetheless run all the way down to Donny Cove?
Through Killybegs, Kilkerry, and Kildare?
I’ve seen this dialog performed out a whole lot of occasions, first with my dad and mom after which with the 1000’s of refugees and different immigrants whom I’ve met over time. This is the dialog that nearly invariably ensues when one who has moved away meets somebody from one’s homeland. Are the roads nonetheless there? Are the landmarks nonetheless there? Somehow, listening to that Route 17 continues to be there or that the lake continues to be there’s extraordinarily satisfying.
It’s actually not in regards to the landmarks and byways, although. There’s way more happening in these conversations given voice on this tune. They reveal a longing for house. Anyone with family members that arrived within the U.S. prior to now few generations can seemingly recall a time after they sat round remembering how they used to make favourite recipes. The shepherd’s pie, pierogi, lasagna, brats, souvlaki, adobo, pancit, curry, or tibs and kibbeh at all times tasted higher “back home.” Everything was at all times higher “back home.”
The starvation addressed by these conversations isn’t just in regards to the meals, although, and these conversations usually are not simply for individuals who have moved away from their homelands. There is a common starvation for that place the place our hearts have been full—that place we name “home.” So, as we undergo life, we’re at all times looking for hyperlinks again to that place.
Sometimes, house will not be a spot however a second in time which felt like house. Perhaps the house we grew up in wasn’t a spot we bear in mind fondly. Sometimes house is one other place, individual or a bunch of individuals, or an expertise the place we felt that fullness of coronary heart.
St. Ignatius, who discovered God in all issues, might need seen that the basis of all these experiences is God. God is there in that swaying willow and lilac-scented breeze. God is there in that mouth-watering chunk of Grandma’s chocolate-chip cookies. God is there within the heat embraces. God is there in the neighborhood that makes us really feel cherished and supported. God is in all of those experiences of house that go away indelible imprints as they fill our hearts.
This week, put aside a while to recall these moments once you felt at house. Savor these reminiscences. Thank God for these moments.
Notice any experiences of house that you’re residing with proper now. For me, as I write this, it’s the sound of wind chimes, leaves rustling, and the scent of contemporary laundry hanging dry. My coronary heart is full. What are you noticing within the now? What fills you up and makes you grateful?
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash.